Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH at Signature

After “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” first premiered off Broadway in 1998, Signature Theatre became one of the first regional theaters to stage the brash hit in its own very successful production in 2002.

With the impending events of WorldPride coming to the city next month, Signature decided to revive the show, this time in its cozier ARK theatre.

The result is not so much nostalgia for a sturdy and vibrant performance piece that’s become a mainstay of queer culture, but also one that still is very much of this moment — taking a bold and celebratory stance of defiance at a time of government repression.

Its placement in the ARK turns it almost into installation art, with Richie Ouellette’s silvery cocoon of Christmas lights, rock posters and mannequin parts spilling out from the stage and enveloping the audience. It makes more immediate the effects of a small divy rock club, where a glam band like The Angry Inch may well be playing.

Mostly “Hedwig” is a showcase for its central character — played here with all the necessary verve and humor by Sawyer Smith, appearing in fabulous trash and flash costumes by Erik Teague (and even more fabulous wigs and makeup from Ali Pohanka).

It’s the story of an East German boy born near the Berlin Wall who sees his own barriers fall through a botched sex-assignment operation that gets him married to a U.S. GI and out of Germany. Bleak life in  a small-town Kansas trailer park leads to a romance with a Christian rock singer who can’t abide Hedwig’s changes but steals his songs. We find Hedwig trolling the ex and now big star, supposedly headlining a concert within earshot at RFK stadium (currently falling like the Berlin Wall). 

Stephen Trask’s songs propel the story with approaches in addition to 70s rock, a kind of thumping disco, and cabaret-like torch ballads. John Cameron Mitchell’s text remains sassy and funny. When he originated the role, he’d ad lib local references and gab with the audience.

In subsequent productions, it’s been up to the lead to conduct his own stand-up banter, and Smith brings in all kinds of barbs about Shirlington and the DMV (“Where else ya gonna go? The Kennedy Center?”). He also hobnobs with those in the first row — and imbibes from someone’s beverage. 

Director Ethan Heard uses some pull out curtains for projections at one point and some shadowplay elsewhere (choreograph by Ashleigh King) to make the small, immersive space even more versatile and visually striking.

As a kind of sidekick and morose companion, Vanessa (V) Sterling provides striking harmony and one strong solo piece. Backup vocals also come from every member of the solid band — Marika Countouris on keyboards, Alec Green on guitar, Joanna Smith on bass and Sam Carolla on drums. 

It all builds to a strong finish, where Smith clips silvery mannequin segments onto an overhead line to emphasize the unfairness of body parts to define humanity, or a nation, making the revived, entertaining  “Hedwig” seem rousing, essential viewing in embattled times. 

Running time: About 90 minutes, no intermission.

Photo credit: Sawyer Smith as Hedwig. Photo by Daniel Rader.